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By Tom HudsonThe Miami Herald • Monday March 17, 2014 1:48 AM

Janet Yellen sat second chair at the Federal Reserve for four years. On
Wednesday, she will orchestrate her first interest-rate meeting as chairwoman of the central bank.
And most expect her to continue singing from the same songbook, even though a few notes will have
to change.

Federal Open Market Committee meetings have become exercises in the obvious and undeniable. Last
May, then-Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress the Fed might reduce its practice of buying bonds to
hold down long-term interest rates. It wasn’t until January when that was put into practice.

The new chairwoman’s communication conundrum is concentrated on the job market. For more than
two years, the committee has stipulated that it would keep the federal funds target rate close to
zero as long as unemployment remained above 6.5 percent. It was 6.7 percent in February.

Yet few would argue the job market and economy are strong enough to withstand higher borrowing
rates. Instead, Yellen will have to adjust jargon to fit the data while reassuring investors and
the Fed’s congressional critics that the bank is not playing musical chairs with its strategy.